YEAR-TO-YEAR CHANGES IN METEOROLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE FRENCH COAST AREA DURING THE LAST HALF-CENTURY - EXAMPLES OF 2 BIOLOGICAL RESPONSES

Chronological series (1949 to 1992) of air temperature, precipitation, atmospheric pressure and wind in different parts of the French coast show evidence of important year-to-year changes, trends and cycles: se ven-eight years for temperature, and around three years for precipitat ion and atmospheric pressure. On the scale of France, it appears that spatial heterogeneity of meteorological factors is smaller than tempor al heterogeneity. New methods, such as the cumulative sums method or t he envelopes of a variable reveal the interest for ecologists of essay ing different numerical approaches. A comparison between climatic seri es and biological series of a benthic and a pelagic species is describ ed for this purpose.